2023 All-PacWest Teams

IRVINE, Calif. – After all three ranked among the conference leaders in multiple statistical categories, Academy of Art baseball's trio of freshman utility Gabe Henderson, senior outfielder Hayato Niki, and graduate student right-handed starting pitcher Cannon Secrist each earned places on the All-PacWest Third Team in Tuesday's announcement of Pacific West Conference honors.

"Gabe, Hayato, and Cannon were very deserving of the recognition they received with these awards," said Head Coach Dan McDermott. "They were three of our most consistent performers and it is quite a compliment that the other coaches in the league felt that way."

Henderson's versatility and ability to generate offense showed in 2023 as he played four different positions and led the team in runs scored. Though he played 34 games at shortstop, he added 11 at catcher, two at third base, and pitched in one game while regularly hitting leadoff and batting .277 (48-for-173) with 37 runs scored (eighth in PacWest and second-most in ART U history), 11 doubles, three triples (second in PacWest), two home runs, 19 runs batted in, and 71 total bases. His 22 walks, second-most on the team and tied for 13th-most in the PacWest, contributed to a .387 on-base percentage. When he wasn't recording 12 multi-hit games, he was busy catching the team's second-highest runners attempting to steal (six).

Early into his first collegiate season, Henderson showed his consistency as he executed a six-game hitting streak that saw him drive in six, score 10 runs, triple once, and double in four straight contests moving into mid-February. Hitless in only nine games for the first three months of the year and owner of the team's second-highest reached base streak (15 games), the Communications & Media Technologies major rattled off seven consecutive outings with a hit from mid to late-March before one of his biggest performances came at Biola on Mar. 26 when he homered as part of a 4-for-5 effort, doubling, driving in two, and scoring three times. His final run scored in the season finale put him just one behind the program's single-season record.

Selected as the team's Most Valuable Player in 2023, Niki swung Academy of Art's hottest bat in 2023. One of just two Urban Knights to start in all 48 games, his batting average finished at .345 (60-for-174), ranking 12th in the PacWest, while his 60 total hits were eighth in the conference (second-most in ART U single-season history). Along with his team-leading 18 multi-hit games, Niki totaled 36 runs scored (ninth in PacWest), 13 doubles (seventh in PacWest), one triple, one home run, 21 runs batted in, and 78 total bases to go with six outfield assists from center field.

Breaking through midway through the season's first month with a 4-for-4 performance that included two runs scored versus Central Washington on Feb. 14, Niki caught fire and ended up going 11-for-18 (.611) with two doubles, two runs batted in, and eight runs scored en route to being named PacWest Player of the Week on Feb. 20. The Communications & Media Technologies major would score a run in 11 of 15 games over a larger span before an 11-game hit streak began in late March and ended with Niki driving in one run and scoring one run in each of the last five contests. A strong final month was highlighted by seven more multi-hit efforts for Niki as well as his game-winning RBI in walk-off fashion versus UH Hilo on Apr. 6.

The team's longest-standing veteran in 2023, Secrist made his final collegiate season a strong one as he led the Urban Knights in complete games as well as earned run average among starters. Starting nine of his 11 appearances, Secrist posted a 2-6 record with one save, tossing three complete games with a 4.64 ERA, 48 strikeouts (11th in PacWest) including 14 of the looking variety (eighth in PacWest), and 12 walks (fifth-fewest in PacWest) in 54.1 innings pitched. Striking out at least 38 batters in three of his four seasons and coming off setting the single-season record with 102 last year, he became the ART U career strikeouts leader in 2023, eclipsing the record set by Assistant Coach Nate Gercken in 2015.

Working his way to a regular spot in the rotation, Secrist opened the year with three punchouts over three scoreless innings before proceeding to strike out five or more in his five starts that followed. The Communications & Media Technologies major did not allow an earned run in 6.0 innings while striking out five versus Fresno Pacific on Mar. 18 then surrendered just one run to Concordia across 6.0 innings with six punchouts in a win on Mar. 31. After earning the second save of his career with a scoreless frame hosting UH Hilo on Apr. 6, Secrist went a season-best 8.1 innings versus Azusa Pacific on Apr. 20, the evening he broke the career strikeouts record with seven in the outing tying his season high. The new top mark in Academy of Art history rested at 202 career strikeouts following Secrist's final start.

These are the first All-PacWest Team honors for Henderson, Niki, and Secrist in their respective careers.